Last Run

Thread 3, Part 1:

Laurel

Last Run

(there) - Thousands of years ago

Running through the darkness, with three or four of Axspaire's subjects in pursuit, Laurel cursed when she realized that she had turned up a canyon. She had hoped to stick to a ridge line. She wanted to get to higher ground as quickly as possible. She had to get to the forests. But now, she heard the trickling sound of water off to her left as she made her way, her mouth open and gasping for air, her legs burning. She noticed that the terrain to her right had steepened and in the fine light of the moon she caught glimpses of steeps walls of stone not far away.

She could not turn around now though. She knew that Axspaire's subjects were not far behind.

She had been running for over a day now, stopping only briefly to eat some haspweed and drink a bit of water, only enough to keep her at a decent tempo. But now, her supplies were gone, and her pursuants were too close behind for her to forage for more food. She hadn't expected that anyone would want to chase her for so long. She hadn't expected that anyone would be able to actually gain on her.

Laurel had studied the maps of the surrounding area before breaching the walls of Axspaire's Hold. She had planned her escape route to some extent prior to breaking in, a route that wound through the scrublands to the east towards the vast and empty wilderness - towards the distant lonely, craggy peaks where no one cared to stray. Laurel felt that, in the off chance that Axspaire's subjects sought to chase her, if she could make it to the forests of the upper slopes she would have enough cover to hide. No one would ever be able to find her then.

Indeed, Axspaire's subjects did continue to chase her. But even still, in her plan, Laurel assumed she would at least be much further ahead by now.

The forests with their tall green fir trees were close now. Only they were up above her, beyond the rims of the canyon.

She strained her ears to listen to the world around her, but the rasping of the air flowing in and out of her chest masked most any other sound beyond the musical ringing of water tumbling down a narrow creek. If she held her breath, the hum and pounding of blood in her ears was too loud.

Fool! She cursed herself as her feet plodded along the stones of the canyon floor. Evvy was right. She was too reckless, too foolishly overconfident. And what had she been told a thousand times by Flint and her group? Only a fool would attempt to steal from Axspaire. Only a fool, indeed.

Laurel thought that she detected a low steady rushing noise. It could be a wind falling from the peaks and slipping though the canyon. It could be the sound of a waterfall. What if this was a box canyon? What if she came to a wall too steep to climb? She would be doomed.

The canyon wall to her right was getting closer. Steeper too. Prompted by a sudden urge, she turned and ran straight towards it.

In a moment she was scrambling up a scree slope. She began to use her hands to grab larger stones and pull herself higher up the wall. Finally she reached a bit of a break in the ascent and scrambled over a series of larger boulders. She looked into the shadows ahead of her desperately attempting to determine the best way to go up the stone wall ahead of her. Maybe there was an cave or chasm in which she could hide.

With a quick glimpse back she saw the glow of lights not far away, down the canyon, following her trail, moving towards her.

No time to think!

She leapt up onto the wall praying that the moon would light her way and that the shadows she grabbed for were sturdy hand and foot holds. Above her she saw what seemed to be the top edge of the canyon. She paused to calculate her path. She could hear voices and footfalls below her now. A flash of light distracted her for a second. She looked down and saw a flock of glowing, white orbs weaving below her, lighting the canyon floor.

Move!

She jumped and grasped at a shadow on the rock face, but what she grabbed was loose. A series of rocks tumbled past her as she flattened her body against the wall. Her skin peeled as gravity scraped her down the rough surface, but her descent stopped after a meter or so. She felt a dip in the rock face with her hand and resumed pulling herself up toward the edge.

"Up there!" a voice screamed. The orbs of light began to swarm towards her - brightening the world around her.

"Keep cool, Laurel," she thought to herself. "Use the light!"

Indeed she could see a crack not far to her left. She pushed from her current hold and stretched as best she could catching the groove with two fingers. With muscles screaming in protest, she quickly levered herself up to the rim.

"Please let there be trees," Laurel thought as she pulled her legs up. Stars filled the sky ahead of her masked only by the silhouette of high mountains in the distance.

As she began to stand and run she heard a hollow crack and was blinded by a flash. She felt pain in her head. A shadow passed in front of her briefly as she stumbled back a step and crumbled into a heap on the ground.

Laurel awoke face down in the gravel. Orange firelight danced nearby. Her head screamed in pain. One of her eyes refused to open.

"She's waking up," a voice said.

Laurel looked up into the face of a tall, thin woman standing near her. Darkness filled the spaces of the woman's cheeks and eyes where the structure of her facial bones shielded the light from the fire. She gently propped herself against a sturdy staff, grasping it lightly in her right hand, seemingly prepared to use it if necessary.

Laurel looked around. Another woman knelt near the fire adding more fuel, and as she did, globes of flame shot forcefully high up into the air.

Dizzy, Laurel began to try to sit up.

"Don't make me hit you again," the woman with the staff growled, her left hand slowly joining her right clasping the blackened wood.

Laurel raised her hands to show they were empty. "Water," she whispered through her swollen dry lips.

A leather pouch landed in front of her. When Laurel looked from whence it came, she saw a third woman dressed in well-fitting leather. Her lip on one side was curled into a smirk. Canbury. Laurel knew of her. Axspaire's most trusted subject. Rumors suggested that she was particularly sadistic. Wily, too.

Laurel smothered the flicker of fear that she felt in her stomach. Fear would be of no use now. She would need wits. She slowly collected the pouch and brought the opening to her lips, forcing herself not to focus too much on Canbury. She tried to focus more broadly, take in her surroundings, start to look for an escape route.

"Fucking stupid, I'd say," Canbury said casually.

"I didn't take anything," Laurel whispered. "I didn't even touch anything."

"We'll see," Canbury said as she turned and walked away staring off into the distance.

Laurel sucked another swallow of water from the pouch. "So, we're good then? I've got places to go."

Canbury turned back. "Cute. I like brash. You wear it well."

"All right then," Laurel looked at the woman with the staff and slowly began to rise to her knees. "I'm sorry that you chose to chase me down. I mean, obviously, I have nothing of yours so... um..." Laurel felt mildly nauseated, but forced her feet under her. Her legs were shaking with fatigue as she stood. She turned. But, there, before her… Fear pulled forth the breath from within her.

In the gloom of darkness stood a fourth woman. The firelight in the woman's eyes sparkled colorlessly, her skin, a skeletal white. A black robe, peaked with a hood, cascaded around the pale flesh of the woman's face. Below her shoulders the robe seemed to undulate in strange patterns. Laurel tried to attribute the motion to the dance of the firelight.

Laurel's knees began to feel weak. She was afraid that they would buckle, but before they did a black glove caught her by her neck and pulled up on her chin. Canbury had stepped in and gripped Laurel's throat tightly, holding Laurel's eyes in the woman's unflinching gaze.

Laurel could not hold back her fear any longer. She began to breathe heavily.

"Axspaire wants to know," Canbury said slowly, her lips so close that they grazed Laurel's right ear lobe, "what were you looking for?"

"The Key," Laurel croaked from her constricted throat. "The Key of Life."

Canbury sighed dramatically. "And did you find it?"

"I don't even know what it looks like, but I just need it," Laurel whimpered.

Canbury, her hand still grasped tightly around Laurel's throat, slipped around behind Laurel in order to whisper into her left ear. "Don't we all?" She kissed the swollen knot where Laurel had been struck. Her tongue lingered across the apex, leaving a cool spot as the night air shifted past. "Why?"

"Evvy, my friend," Laurel croaked, "was condemned to the Hollow Well. But, it was unfair! I have to... I have to get her out. She was innocent." Laurel hoped that they would pity her. Everyone had a soft spot, didn't they? "She is innocent."

"Aren't we all?" Canbury whispered. "Aren't we all?"

The hooded woman remained expressionless before Laurel, her eyes unblinking.

Laurel heard the whisper of robes rustling.

"Axspaire wants to know what you saw," Canbury whispered as she wedged her body behind Laurel's, pulling her chin up until her head rested back against Canbury's shoulder.

A second hand, thin and pale settled on her cheek. Laurel jerked with fear. She hadn't even seen the hooded woman raise her arm towards her. And now her cold fingers pressed lightly into the flesh by her ear, her thumb draped softly underneath Laurel's lip.

"I saw..." Laurel thought back to the room at Axspaire's Hold. "I saw mirrors... and..."

Was there something more that she saw? Laurel searched desperately for a fleeting image, that like a common word that one cannot voice and that seems to linger on the tip of one's tongue only to disappear the closer one comes to remembering it. A face, perhaps, other than her own in the mirror's reflection. No. That's ridiculous.

"You saw mirrors and... what?" Canbury asked.

Laurel really wanted to tell them more of what she saw - that fleeting glimpse. But how do you explain an illusion? "I saw mirrors and heard the guards. And I ran."

Was there something more? No. No, there was nothing more. "I ran," Laurel whispered.

The cold hand lifted from Laurel's cheek, but Canbury's grasp on her throat tightened. "So, you ran... and here we are..."

Canbury twisted Laurel's face away from the hooded woman. Laurel didn't want to look away and strained her eyes to maintain her gaze. But Canbury twisted Laurel's head far enough so that the hooded woman was no longer in her line of sight.

On the other hand, the woman with the staff was now directly in front of her and the staff was moving swiftly towards her. The impact struck her sharply in her abdomen. Canbury let go and Laurel staggered back a step before collapsing into the dust.

She tried to plead, but there was no air in her lungs. She straightened her chest up a bit, trying to get air into her lungs. She did finally, but only in time to see the hooded woman staring down at her. She watched her bony hand slide between the folds of her robe and reappear with a metal tube of some sort, which she slowly pointed towards Laurel. It must be some kind of advanced technology.

"Please," Laurel groaned, grasping her breast in pain as she tried to pull in enough air to breathe. "Oh, Evvy... I'm so sorry."

Laurel did not hear the loud report of the device crack through the air, but before her world turned black, she did see the bright flash and felt a painful burning in her neck as she tumbled back into the dirt.